John Katehis Hub

A Brooklyn jury has convicted 19-year-old John Katehis of second degree murder in a retrial of the 2009 killing of gay newsman George Weber, whom Katehis, a satanist, stabbed more than 50 times after arranging a meeting on Craigslist.

Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case, delivered an effective closing argument on November 14, telling jurors that Katehis, now 19, may have planned Weber’s murder and perhaps even tortured the 47-year-old victim before killing him.

Nicolazzi declined to comment in the wake of the verdict’s announcement.

Jurors began deliberating around noon on the 14th and announced they had a verdict by 3 p.m. on November 15. During their deliberations, they reviewed parts of the judge’s instructions to them and a few pieces of evidence. The speed of their verdict suggests they easily adopted the prosecution’s theory.

"Katehis, 16, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday on murder charges, where his lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz argued the teen was defending himself from a sexual attack by Weber who called himself 'smotherboy' and was wielding a knife.
But Katehis' signed confession tells a different story.
The teen claims the stabbing occurred after binding Weber's legs with duct tape in his Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, flat and was 'accidental.' ... 'He took [a small knife out of his pocket] to show it to me but I got nervous and grabbed for the knife,' Katehis wrote."

And then he stabbed Weber 50 times...by accident.

Katehis' lawyer described the MySpace webpage on which Katehis professed his love for satan and knife-collecting as a "goofy, impressionable teenager trying to be macho."

John Katehis, the 16-year-old knife-collecting satanist who stabbed WABC newsman George Weber to death last week after they met on Craigslist, angrily demanded cash for his story when visited by the New York Post over the weekend:

"Wearing a light green jumpsuit and a menacing scowl on his face,
Katehis again made clear there was only one way he'd spill the beans. 'Is this a cash offer?' snarled Katehis. 'Cash offers only!' Once it became clear no money would be exchanged, Katehis shot up and yelled again, 'cash offers only!, and stormed out...Katehis's classmate, Daniel Rongo, was also at Bellevue yesterday to visit the jailed killer. 'He was always quiet,' said Rongo, 19. 'John was never the fighting type. Nobody was afraid of him.' But Katehis wasn't happy to see his friend, telling him, 'I always hated you at school. Stop wasting my visits.'"